


She Was Twenty

by jolymusichetta



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M, Soul Mates AU, The world is gray before you meet your soul mate, professor/student
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-27
Updated: 2015-02-27
Packaged: 2018-03-15 13:18:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3448595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jolymusichetta/pseuds/jolymusichetta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek Hale's world has been gray since he was born and at 27 years old, it doesn't look like it's about to change anytime soon. So he went on with his life and started teaching at a university in New York. It was there that his world burst into color upon seeing his soul mate for the first time: One of his students.</p>
            </blockquote>





	She Was Twenty

**Author's Note:**

> Beta read by the wonderful [Aaron](http://ephemeralscherzo.tumblr.com/)

Derek Hale’s world had been in gray his entire life. He never knew what to make of the people who commented on the colors, recently bonded couples talking about the shades of the grass or the way the sky seemed to be lighter some days and darker others. It never made sense to him and it wouldn’t until he met his soul mate. Some people were lucky enough to meet their soul mate when they were young. His little sister, Cora, met hers when she was seventeen, some gawky boy named Stiles that Derek couldn’t stand. Other people, like his older sister Laura, could see colors every day from the day she was born, meaning that she didn’t have a soul mate. It was fine by her, she was far too independent to have to rely on someone else and if she ever wanted to, she could always date someone who saw colors their entire life too. It didn’t mean anything, except that they weren’t codependent on another person.

At 27 years old, Derek was sure that he was just a person who would never be able to see color. It happened rarely, but it did happen. People who never saw color had their soul mate die before they could meet each other and, even if there was nothing to prove that he just hadn’t met his soul mate yet, Derek’s heart still went out to them, whoever they were. He was long since used to not seeing color, it wasn’t something that truly got to him anymore, though he did find an excuse to leave a conversation whenever the topic of soul mates was brought up. He had resigned himself to living a life without color.

He was a professor at the local liberal arts college and his classes each year were small but growing. He had no doubt that a lot of the students were only there because there were whispers of how “ _attractive Professor Hale was_ ”, though there was a portion of students who were there to learn about anthropology. Each year, he had a few students drop the class after finding out that his face wasn’t worth sitting through the lectures and, even though he wasn’t the least dense of people, he could still tell, especially when a majority of the students who dropped were female and couldn’t stop smiling whenever he talked to them. But he didn’t indulge any of them. They were his students and yes, even if the university was lenient when it came down to students and professors dating, none of these girls were his soul mate and to be honest, his soul mate was the only one he would break his  own personal rules for.

He wasn’t afraid of his soul mate being a male. He had no preference really but there was always that slight tug in his gut that told him he was to end up with a girl. Call it a feeling, call it a premonition, whatever, he just knew. Now if he only knew what her name was. He wouldn’t put it past himself to search for this girl, to track her down if he knew her name. She had to be just as lonely as he was, perhaps even more so, depending on her personal situation. He knew that Cora had gotten along fine without a soul mate for seventeen years because their family was nothing short of chaotic but Stiles, her soul mate, had lost his mother when he was eight and it had been just him and his dad, his friend Scott and Scott’s mom. Scott had lost his soul mate when he was fifteen, had never met them and never saw color.  When Stiles met Cora two years later, Scott pulled away, too deeply hurt by the loss to be there for Stiles. He wanted to be but he just couldn’t bear the pain.

As he braced himself for another day at work, starting for the spring semester at the school, he wrote Professor Hale on the board in stiff handwriting that he had gotten better at making legible over the past few years. As he waited for his class to file in, he glanced at his phone and twisted in his chair. His sister Laura had a new job and he was waiting to hear all about the updates of it, given that she left multiple jobs because they were too uptight about tattoos in the workplace, which Derek thought was complete and utter bullshit. If their mother, Talia Hale, strictest but kindest woman to ever live, was okay with tattoos, than Derek thought everyone should be too. It was why he got tattoos frequently, since it was more of a _fuck you_ to everyone who thought he couldn’t have a job with them and also, to test the school. He was too well liked of a teacher and his students’ grades were too high to even consider firing him.

Besides, it was always entertaining for his students to be shopping with some of their more uptight parents and more than once, the parents had warned their kids against tattoos, saying Derek would never get a job and their kid didn’t want to end up in the same predicament. His favorite part was when his students said, “ _Goodbye, Professor Hale_.” The parents’ faces were probably his favorite thing ever.

Once the clock turned 10:20, he stood. “Good morning, everyone,” he greeted, “I’m Professor Hale, and this is Anthropology 101. A few simple rules before I begin class today: If you want to waste your time in my class, then fine, it’s your money, but don’t disturb the students in here who actually want to learn. If you are here purely because you heard some rumor about me,” there were a few titters from the audience, “Then please, after this class, don’t return. I’m here to teach anthropology, not be a pretty face for you to look at. If you heard a rumor about me and took the class because of those rumors, you’re welcome to stay, provided that you actually have an interest in this class.” He cleared his throat. The first day speech he came up with generally weeded out the students who weren’t interested in the class pretty quickly, made it easier for him to do his job. “Lastly, I don’t tolerate lateness without an excuse.”

His words were punctuated by the door to the classroom closing. Of course, he couldn’t help but think. _There’s always one_. Mildly annoyed by the lateness, he gestured for her to come in, moving to lean against the front of his desk and tuck his hands in the pockets of his pants. “As I was saying,” he said, as whoever it was scurried across the room to find a seat after a moment of hesitation, for whatever reason, “I don’t tolerate lateness but as it is the first day, I will let this one slide.” He finally looked over at the person, who was just finding a seat and the first thing he noticed was that she seemed to be in a state of disarray. Her hair was messy, brown, nearly black, and looking slightly damp. Her face was scraped, the cut on her cheek red and her sweater was ripped in multiple places, revealing more scraped skin underneath.

The second thing he noticed was that his world launched into colors. “Fuck,” he mumbled, the wind leaving him as if he got punched in the stomach. She seemed to notice it too and Derek wanted to call of class, dismiss everyone but her until he memorized every last detail of her, from the mole under her left eye down to the chipped pink nail polish on her fingernails. After what felt like an eternity, but was more about fifteen second, he cleared his throat and shook his head, getting the class roster off his desk and a pen to begin roll. He needed to know her name, that was his only priority right now, he watched her through every name, waiting for her to speak up.

The name on the sheet Paige Krasikeva caught his eye and when he called it out, the girl spoke and his heart nearly soared. Her name was Paige. His soul mate’s name was Paige. The girl he was meant to spend the rest of his life with was named Paige and she was sitting fifteen feet away from him. He got along with the class, though the first day was more of an introduction day than anything and he didn’t expect his students to really be paying attention, he was just reading off the syllabus and describing what they would be covering in a bit more detail. Besides, as of today, he wasn’t paying attention at all. How could he? He had to call Laura, call everyone, shout it to the world that he met his soul mate.

When his hour was up and he dismissed his class, Paige was still sitting there, waiting for everyone to file out so she could have a moment alone with Derek. Once the room was empty except for the room them, she stood and made her way down to the front of the classroom, looking up at Derek. “Hi.”

He was nearly breathless again, smiling back at her. “Hi. I don’t think we need names but … I’m Derek,” he said, extending his hand to her.

She didn’t shake his hand, just licked her lips as she glanced down at the hand before she murmured out, “Paige.” She was still for another few seconds before she flung her arms around his neck, stretching up on her toes. “I’ve wanted to meet you for so long,” she whispered as his arms went around her instinctively, lifting her off her feet a little.

“Me too.” He ran his hand down the back of her hair, pulling the twig that was caught in a knot and tossing it to the ground. Once the broke back, she didn’t seem to keep her distance as much, not that he blamed her. He was her soul mate, yeah, but he was also her professor. As much as he wanted to talk to her, to know everything about her life and for her to know everything about his, he couldn’t.  “I’ve got another class here in half an hour … but otherwise, I’d love to talk,” he said, tucking her hair  behind her ear, just so part of him was near her. He couldn’t help it, he just want to be around her, to let her touch him and feel comfortable with him.

She leaned after his hand, wanting for him to continue playing with her hair and she blushed. Derek had never loved seeing color more than at that moment, the blood rushing to her cheek and turning them a shade of pink. “It’s alright. I’ve got rehearsal in an hour and I need to get back to my dorm and change.”

His curiosity was piqued. “Rehearsal? For what?”

“Cello. I’m classically trained.” Her smile at that was blinding and the way she sounded talking about it, even for just a moment, showed how passionate she was about her music.

He nodded slowly, heart thrumming so loudly in his chest that he wouldn’t surprised if she could hear it from where she was standing. “I’d love to hear you play some time,” he murmured, “But if you have an hour, then you should probably go.” As much as he didn’t want her to leave, they both had to respect their prior engagements, not to mention, that his students and their parents would hate him if he cancelled the first class of the semester.

Paige’s voice sounded a little broken when she asked, “When can I see you again?”

“Friday, around nine?” he offered. “I can take you out to this little bar I frequent.”

Her smile flickered for only a moment but she nodded. “It’s a date.” She readjusted the bag over her shoulder. She got out a piece of paper from her notebook and scribbled down _306 Kane Hall_ and pressed the paper into his hand. “My dorm. If a bossy girl answers the door, just ignore her. It’s what I do.” She bit her lip before she stood up on her toes and pressed a kiss to his cheek, leaving a faint pink lipstick mark there. Before Derek could process it, she was nearly out the door.

“I’ll see you Friday!”

* * *

As Paige unlocked the door to her dorm, she wasn’t surprised to see that her roommate, Lydia, was already there, working on her painting and her cheeks smeared with green and blue and purple paint. Paige nearly shrieked. “Lydia!” she shouted, bouncing on her toes as she looked over her roommate. She took in the red hair, the blue nail polish on her fingers and the pink diamond earrings she wore.

Lydia sighed, pulling her paintbrush away from the canvas. “Yes?”

Paige didn’t answer, just moved to look over Lydia’s shoulder. “That is such a nice shade of blue! And that purple is so … vibrant!” She couldn’t believe what she had been missing out on. Her bedspread was lime green and the walls were a shade of beige that she didn’t really like that much but she could still see it.

Lydia tilted her head to the side, looking over the painting in front of her. “You think?” she asked, sighing softly as she glanced between the painting and her palette.  It took her a minute, during which Paige was bouncing on her toes still and waiting for her to get it but then Lydia grinned, standing up and replacing her palette on her stool. “You met your soul mate?!”

“I met my soul mate!” She and Lydia hugged for a moment.

Lydia met her soul mate, a deputy for the police force in the town that she grew up in, coincidentally the same town Stiles grew up in, when she was fifteen when a party she was at got too out of control and the sheriff’’s department, which Stiles’ dad led. His name was Jordan and they were so in love with each other that it hurt. He was currently back in California, on the other side of the country and they called each other every night, often keeping Paige up until the wee hours of the morning but she didn’t mind. They were happy and everyone deserved a chance.

“Tell me all about them!” she said, moving Paige over to her bed and frowning once she got a better look at her friend. “What happened to you?”

“I slipped,” Paige said, waving a dismissive hand as Lydia grabbed a brush and started running it  through Paige’s hair. “Lydia, Lydia, don’t groom me! I have to shower anyway. I just have a few minutes to talk.” She turned to face Lydia, grabbing her hands. “His name is Derek Hale, he’s my anthro professor and Lydia, he’s gorgeous!”

“Wait,” Lydia said, holding up a hand. “Your soul mate is _the_ Derek Hale? The hottest teacher in this school?”

Paige nodded, grinning. “He’s taking me out on Friday! We’re going to this bar.”

“Paige … you’re nineteen. You can’t get _into_ a bar,” Lydia pointed out, crossing her arms over her chest and giving Paige an expectant look.

Paige just grinned. “No, but I have the best friend and roommate in the world who can get me a fake ID.” She gave Lydia a wide grin, batting her eyelashes for good measure until Lydia sighed and relented. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She hugged Lydia quickly before she stood up and picked out a new sweater and pair of jeans, stripping out of her dirty clothes and grabbing her shower stuff.

“I’ll let you know when she wants to meet you,” Lydia hummed as she went back to painting.

Paige nodded, pecking Lydia’s cheek before she went to shower. “You’re the best!”

* * *

When Friday night rolled around, Derek had spent a good half hour trying to pick out what to wear. He decided that vests and ties were too reminiscent of the fact that he was a teacher and t-shirts were too casual and his dad had to help him settle on a nice button down and a blazer, along with a pair of jeans. He gave off the impression that he actually cared about his appearance but he didn’t look too much like a teacher. He knocked the door to the dorm, taken aback by the short redhead that pulled the door open.

“Well, hello,” she said, red ringlets bouncing as she twisted on her heel, affixing an earring in her second piercing. “You must be Professor Hale. I’m Lydia, best friend and roommate.”

Derek sighed. “It’s actually just Derek tonight. Is Paige ready?” he asked.

Lydia hummed, pretending to think it over before she held up a finger. “Wait here.” She closed the door and called, “Paige!”

When the door opened again, [Paige](http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=147516475) was standing there, light blue jacket in the crook of her elbow and a bag shaped like a bow over her arm. Her hair was in loose curls and she was wearing the same lipstick she wore the day Derek met her. He smiled. She looked amazing. “You ready to go?”

“Yeah,” she said, calling to Lydia that she wouldn’t be back until later, and closing the door. When Derek offered her his arm, she raised her eyebrow. “Really?”

He couldn’t help but laugh. “My mom raised me right,” he said but still he couldn’t help but feel a little self conscious, dropping his arm. When their hands brushed and she linked their fingers together, he sighed inwardly. Okay, that could have gone badly. “You look really nice,” he murmured, eyeing the high heels she was wearing.

“Lydia dressed me,” she explained. “Half of this is hers.” More to the point, all of the expensive things were hers. “Apparently my wardrobe isn’t appropriate for my first date with ...my soul mate.” The words sounded so foreign on her tongue, but she loved the way they made her feel.

Derek smiled at that. “Well, I’d think anything would look good on you,” he said. He was met with satisfaction as he saw her cheeks fill with color again and she looked down, tucking her hair behind her ear.

“You’re sweet,” she said, squeezing his hand and looking up at him. “And you look really nice, too.” And he did. _Really_ nice.

“Wanna know a secret?” he asked, looking down at her as she wobbled in the heels that looked more like a torture device anything. She nodded, looking up from her feet. “My dad helped me pick out my outfit.”

“Really?”

“Mmhm. I spent half an hour with him on the phone.”

“I like that you still go to your dad for advice,” Paige told him, “It’s nice that you’re still on good terms with him.”

Once they were outside on the busy New York streets, Paige pulled her jacket on while Derek hailed a cab, because he doubted those shoes would be overly comfortable for her to walk in. When one pulled up to the curb, he opened the door for her, getting in after and settling in. “The Immigrant,” he told the cabbie, draping an arm over the back of the seat as the pulled away from the curb.

Paige settled against his side, close enough for him to dip his head and whisper, “I didn’t know taxis were yellow.” They had all heard the colors, learned about them from people who could see but until you met your soul mate, colors were all just varying dull shades of gray. His sisters had to give him an impromptu lesson on them the day before, when they could all meet up at the loft Derek rented.

“Me neither,” she said, “Lydia pretty much had to give me a crash course on colors and what goes together and what doesn’t.” Lydia pretty much picked out Paige’s outfits for her, told her what she could wear with what. Not everyone could see color but she wasn’t letting her friend look stupid to the people that could.

“Lydia helps you out a lot, doesn’t she?” he asked, moving his arm so it was draped over her shoulder and absently running his fingertips over the light blue material of the jacket she wore.

Paige just nodded. “She’s been able to see colors since she was fifteen and she’s really into art and stuff, so she’s really big into colors. She’s just a good friend.”

Derek nodded, not really seeing it his place to press the topic. He just kissed the side of her head and waited for them to get to the bar. Once they were there, he paid the driver, not even giving Paige a chance to offer before they got out, heading into the bar. He offered his hand to her as they went inside. They showed their IDs to the bouncer and went inside. Paige had gone met up with Lydia’s friend Braeden a few days before, giving her fifty dollars for the fake ID she would make her, passing as a New York driver’s license in every single way. And since she got in without problem, she considered it fifty dollars well spent. He led her over to the bar, to order their drinks.

“Sidecar for me,” he said before looking to Paige.

She thought for a moment, trying to decide and settling on, “A Kir Royale.” She reached into her purse to get out a ten for her drink but Derek had already handed over a twenty, telling the bartender to keep the change. “I can pay for my own drink, Derek,” she said.

“It’s a first date, I’m paying,” he countered, raising an eyebrow, as if daring her to argue.

She set her jaw playfully before she relented. “Fine. I pay next time.” She was nothing if not fair, even if this guy was her professor or not.

He hummed when their drinks were set down. “We’ll see,” he replied, picking up his drink and setting a hand on her lower back as they found an empty booth. She slid in and shrugged her jacket off, setting it down next to her on the seat. Derek slid in across from her. “So … tell me everything.”

“Everything?” Paige echoed, eyebrows raised. “That’s a pretty tall order.” She leaned back against the booth.

“Everything.”

She let out a low whistle, thinking it over. “Okay, well, my full name is Paige Danielle Krasikeva. I was born April 12th, 1995. I’m an only child. One of my moms died when I was eleven.”

“Moms?” Derek asked, eyebrows raised.

She nodded. “My other mom is really nice, I haven’t seen her since Christmas, though her birthday is in a few weeks, maybe I’ll go home for the weekend.” She took a sip of her drink, the alcohol rushing through her her pleasantly.

Derek paused. “Wait, if you were born in 1995, that would make you 19.”

Paige shrugged. “I won’t tell the bartender if you won’t.” She smiled, leaning against the table and pulling her sleeves down over her hands until just her fingertips were visible. And if Derek had any urge to take away her drink and leave, which he didn’t, it was gone then, because she looked so damn cute like that that it made his heart hurt.

“Fine, carry on,” he said, licking his lower lips.

“Okay, I’ve ….” she hesitated, trying to think of where she was going from there, because she honestly didn’t find herself all that interesting. “Played the cello since I was six. But I’ve got nothing else to say on the topic of me. What about you?”

He put his glass down, sighing. “Okay. My name is Derek Simon Hale. I’m 27 years old, I was born November 7th, 1989. I’m one of six kids. I am a total mama’s boy. I graduated from Yale. And I love my job more than anything in the world.”

Paige bit her lip. “If you graduated, why would you go back to school? And why would you like it so much?” She didn’t like school. She just liked her cello and music and that was it.

He was quiet for a moment, the music pumping through the speakers and the greenish light giving off the indication that something was wrong but it wasn’t. He was just thinking of how to phrase it. “I like my job … because it helped me meet you faster,” he murmured, leaning in close so she could hear him over the thumping bassline.

Paige blushed again, the color barely visible as she did. “You’re so corny,” she cooed back, leaning into kiss him lightly. Their first kiss. The first of many. “I like it.”

He laughed, stealing another kiss, feeling his skin tingle and his stomach twist happily at the contact. “Good. Because it’s here to stay.” He was a corny motherfucker who liked puns and dumb jokes. And the fact that she was on board with it just made him all the more certain that she was his soul mate.

They stayed at the bar until three am, just talking. By then, Derek knew every little thing about her life.

_“What do you want to do when you get older?” he had asked._

_She took a sip of her drink, now working on a beer that tasted like ass but she drank anyway because she was just so entertained that she forgot how crappy it tasted. “The selfish part of me says be a famous cellist. But the unselfish part says go to Africa and be a teacher. Maybe help build homes.”_

_Derek was impressed by her answer. Truly, she had to be the most amazing person he had ever met. “Wouldn’t you miss New York?” he asked, running his thumb over her hand where their fingers were laced together._

_Paige thought for a moment. “I would miss seeing the sun rise over the skyline every morning. I would miss the people I’ve met. But I don’t think I would miss the state.” She shrugged. “The sun rises everywhere. Who says it’s not more beautiful somewhere else?”_

_And Derek swore that he fell in love with her at that moment, squeezing her hand. “That’s actually … a really nice perspective to have.”_

They were walking back now and he could tell by the way her footsteps seemed lighter than before that she was in pain. “You alright?”

“Yeah. My feet are just a little sore,” she replied, waving her hand dismissively, even though Lydia had warned her that she would regret not breaking these shoes in before her date and she was now coming to see that Lydia was entirely correct.

Why did she always have to be right?

Derek gestured to a bench she could sit down at for a moment. “Why don’t you take them off?”

“And walk across the city barefoot, I don’t think so. This is New York. Someone has probably peed on these streets,” she shot back but hobbled over to the bench anyway, sighing blissfully when she picked her feet up enough that the weight was off of them. Derek took her shoes off, holding them between his fingers the way he had seen Laura do after sneaking back in from many a one night stand. “Come on, get on my back.”

“You’re insane,” came the response as he turned around and sat on the edge of the bench. Moments later, he felt her arms wrap around his neck and legs hitch over his hips. He stood, hooking his arms under his legs once they were readjusted and kissed her cheek. “Have I mentioned that you’re insane?”

“I believe it’s come up,” he replied simply and started back for campus.

* * *

Lydia grabbed her friend the second she stepped foot into their dorm, having had her ear pressed to the door to hear the soft, “Well … good night,” Paige had said, leaning back against the door.

“Good night,” Derek had responded and there was a couple of seconds hesitation before Lydia heard the door creak and raised her eyebrows. There was the quiet sound of lips parting before the door opened and she had to dive to her bed to avoid being hit.

She caught a glimpse of the professor walking away and smirked, looking up at Paige’s smudged lipstick. “Tell me everything,” she demanded once the door was closed, moving to sit down onto her bed and look over at Paige.

Paige was silent as she changed, pulling off the clothes and tugging on a pair of flannel pajama pants and an old hoodie.

“Well?”

Paige spun once she changed, falling onto her bed in a way that made the purple down comforter fluff up around her. “Lydia, he’s perfect!” She had her hands on her chest, covering her heart. “He’s such a nice guy and he just … ugh!” She was so glad Derek was her soul mate.

Lydia cleared her throat, picking up the clothes she had lent Paige. “I need examples. Like, right now.”

“Okay, well, he says he wanted to be a paleontologist,” she began, sitting up and getting a makeup wipe to clean up her face. “And he went on a dig in New Mexico once but he said he actually prefers teaching.”

_“Okay, okay,” Paige said, after she nearly spewed her beer out of her nose from laughing, covering her mouth. She didn’t care that she looked unattractive or that it was burning. Derek didn’t seem to be looking at her with anything other than kindness. “Where are you from?”_

_“California,” he said, picking absently on the label of his beer. “I came out east for school and just … never left.” He liked it more than California, liked the hustle and bustle that New York seemed to specialize in. “What about you?”_

_She took a sip of her beer after she was sure it was tolerable again. “New Jersey. In Perth Amboy.” She turned his hand over, so she could trace her fingers over the inside of his wrist idly, the feeling making her heart swell. “I used to come into New York for shows and competitions and the like.”_

_“No wonder we never met before this,” Derek said, liking the way her fingers felt on his wrist. “We lived on different sides of the country.”_

_“My moms have us beat,” Paige said factually. “One of my moms is Taiwanese and they didn’t meet  until my mama went to Taiwan, just got on a plane for fun and left. …Which brings up the question:”_

_He nodded, running his free hand through his hair. “Shoot.”_

_Paige was quiet for a moment, trying to think of the best way to phrase it. “Do you believe that we would have ended up meeting each other if I hadn’t gone to school here?”_

_Derek blew out a long breath, settling back in his seat like he had gotten the window knocked out of him. “Yes,” he said, after a long moment of deliberating. “I do. I think everyone is destined to meet their soul mate at some point. It’s just a matter of when.”_

* * *

Derek fell onto his back as he flopped onto the couch in his apartment, long enough to notice that the remote wasn’t where he left it and the bathroom light was on. He slowly stood, grabbing the first thing he could use as a weapon, a large umbrella that he now noticed was green, holding it above his head. He took a step closer, hiding against the wall until he heard the footsteps and jumped out in front of the door, about to swing when he heard,

“Derek!” He dropped the umbrella from it’s position, sighing.

“Goddamn it, Laura! Have you ever heard of fucking texting before you come over?” He set the umbrella down in the holder next to the front door, sitting down on the couch and making room for his sister.

She shrugged, sitting down next to him and leaning back, propping her feet up onto the coffee table. “Whatever, tell me about your date, I want to hear everything.”

_“Wait, so how long have you been playing the cello?”_

_She shrugged. “Thirteen years.”_

_“Thirteen? Holy shit, Paige, that’s actually really impressive.” He took a sip of beer, the dregs of his bottle and offering his hand to Paige as she stood, helping her remain upright as she wobbled on the heels. “I’ll have to hear you play sometime.”_

_She just nodded, taking his hand and pulling her coat on and looking up at him. “I’d like that.” She kissed Derek lightly, pulling their laced hands behind her back. They stood like that for just a moment longer, oblivious to the people pushing past them and the guy three booths away who just leaned out onto the floor and threw up._

_They were the only two people in the world for this moment. And Derek wouldn’t have had it any other way._

_Derek rested his forehead on hers as the kiss trailed off. “What do you say we get out of here, huh?”_

_She nodded, stealing another kiss before they left back for campus._

Derek sighed. He hadn’t ever actually really dated anyone, except for one guy that he knew wouldn’t last. The guy had been seeing color his whole life. He wasn’t meant for Derek. They broke it off peacefully, as Derek actually had a soul mate and he really did want to not be tied down when they met. Even with the general rule of society that all bets were off if you were in a relationship when you met your soul mate, he didn’t want to break the guy’s heart. He hadn’t spoken to that guy in thirteen years but … better safe than sorry, right. Besides, for all he knew that guy was happily settled.

And soon, he would be too.

He just dropped his head onto the back of the couch, eyes closed. “Laura, she’s perfect. She’s funny a-and smart and god, she’s gorgeous.”

Laura patted his head lightly. She was slightly envious, she never got to experience the feeling of meeting her soul mate for the first time, but she was okay with that. Better than going 27 years without seeing color. “One date and you already love her? Are you going to propose to her on the next one?”

Derek swatted at his sister, sitting up and running a hand through his hair. “Alright, alright, shut up. I’m taking a shower. You staying the night?”

“Maybe,” she replied, settling down on the couch and turning on the TV. “Haven’t decided yet.”

Derek rolled his eyes but went into the bathroom to shower.

* * *

When Derek got to class the following Tuesday, he had been texting Paige since Friday night, despite the fact that she disappeared at odd intervals, seemed to fall asleep when he was still wide awake and desperate for her company. He made sure that his texts were the first thing she saw when she woke up, especially since he liked to send an occasional good morning text. Saturday morning, they made plans for Paige to come over to his apartment on Wednesday after they finished their classes for the day. Sunday morning, they sent each other selfies upon waking up. By Monday, they were calling each other while they got ready to start their days. He could hear Lydia in the background groaning and telling them to shut up.

On his desk, there was a small note, the handwriting unrecognizable to him but he didn’t have to guess who it was. Most of his class was already there, but Paige was sitting in the front row this time, about a total of six feet between them. He smiled at the note, his heart leaping to his throat and all of his blood rushing south.

The note was on a pink sticky note, the word _Friday?_ followed by a rather well done drawing of a condom still in the wrapper. When he looked up at Paige after reading it, she shrugged, cheeks flushing. She did sink down in her seat, dropping her gaze to the board after a moment, chewing on her lower lip, which Derek had noticed was a nervous habit of hers.

Class went by quickly and smoothly. Most people returned but a few guys and girls didn’t come back, which Derek figured was due to the speech he gave the last class they had together.

“Sorry about the note,” Paige said as she stepped up to the desk, the same way she had done the week before, hugging her books to her chest like a shield. Under her breath, she just muttered, “Last time I try to be bold.”

Derek folded the note into his back pocket with a laugh, hand cupping her jaw and tilting her head up. “I never said I wasn’t interested,” he promised. God, he was so interested. He may be fully grown and a teacher, but he was still a human with a sex drive. And if Paige wanted to, then he wasn’t going to say no.

She knit her eyebrows together. “But …” She trailed off then, casting her eyes down and leaning into the hand on her jaw. “Nevermind.”

He leaned back against the desk, slowly taking her books from her arms and setting them onto his desk behind him so he could take her hands. “But what, Paige?” His voice was soft, kind and with a slight tinge of concern to it.

“I’ve never …” She didn’t have to finish the sentence for him to figure out where it was going. He kissed the back of her hands before letting go of them.

“It’s only been one time for me,” he said. “And it was a long time ago.” Since Paige was six. He hadn’t had sex since Paige was a six year old.

Well, if that wasn’t a reality check, he didn’t know what was.

But still, he pulled his phone out of his pocket, pretending to open up his calendar. “Friday night … have sex,” he murmured aloud as he pretended to type it in.

Paige raised her eyebrows, moving to tilt the phone screen so she could see it. “You did not just make a note to have sex on Friday.”

“No, I didn’t.”

She smiled when she saw his wallpaper, one of the pictures she had taken and then sent to him. “I’m your wallpaper?”

“I’m gonna be really offended if I’m not yours,” he teased, stealing a quick kiss before he looked down at his phone. “Don’t you have cello practice?”

Her face fell when she realized. “Shit!” She kissed him again before she grabbed the books he was handing out to her and ran. “Bye, Dere!”

“Later, babe.”

* * *

Thursday night had Paige sitting on the couch in Derek’s living room, looking far more comfortable than she had the last time they hung out, in a pair of jeans, a light green sweater, that Derek learned was the shade people called mint, and a pair of beaten up Converse. She looked beautiful just sitting there, hair falling down her back. But she always looked beautiful.

Derek settled down next to her, sitting so their knees were touching through the denim they both wore. “So .. you have two options for food: We can call and order in, pizza, Chinese, whatever,” he hummed, holding up his finger to signify that she should wait, despite the fact that she had made no move to speak and didn’t look like she was about to. “Or … I can cook for you.”

With that, Paige broke out into a grin. “My boyfriend can cook!” she cooed, before she nodded. “That one.” Definitely that one. She didn’t even want to consider takeout if Derek could cook.

He stood up, waiting for Paige to join him before he went over to the kitchen. “How do you feel about fettuccine alfredo?” he asked, setting his hands on her hips while she nodded before he grabbed a pot from where it hung overhead near his stove. “Wanna get the butter out of the fridge?”

Paige did before she hopped up on the counter to watch, and when it was cooking, Derek stepped between her legs, planting one hand on the counter as the other tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “We have about half an hour.”

She gently carded her hand through his hair with a sigh. “What can we do in half an hour?”

Derek barely made it over to the couch before they were all over each other, his hands rucking up the sweater she wore. Her hands were under his shirt, fingers running over his chest. They could hardly stay in one place long enough, his lips on hers, her tongue in his mouth before they were moving again, breaking apart to toss their shirts somewhere near by. Derek rolled them over then, carefully, so as not to put them over the edge of the couch. He was above Paige, smiling as he looked down at her, eyes taking in the purple bra and the stomach covered in birthmarks. They were both breathing heavy, Paige especially as Derek sucked a dark purple mark into her neck.

He felt prouder than he should upon seeing it, swiping his thumb over the hickey. It was like he was marking his territory, that she was his and he was hers and that was that. His hands started working at the belt on her jeans, barely managing to get it open before she flipped them, successfully ending with Derek on the floor due to the width of the couch.

“I’m sorry!” Paige was laughing, not sounding very sorry at all but hey, if you couldn’t laugh when making out with your boyfriend, then you weren’t dating the right person. Her hands moved to cover her mouth, trying to suppress the giggles spilling out of her before there was a hand around her leg that pulled her to the ground. “Don’t do that!”

Derek shrugged, smirking to himself. “Sorry,” he said simply, pushing the coffee table away just in case they decided the floor was better for this kind of stuff, despite the fact that the mix of bare backs and hardwood floors was not among the most comfortable combinations out there.

Paige sat up, smoothing down her hair, which was rather mussed up and pulled her shirt on. “No you’re not,” she said with a fond roll of her eyes, kissing him again. “But it’s okay, because I’m not either.” She licked over her swollen lips before she pushed herself off the floor. “You should probably check on our food … bathroom’s through there, right?” she asked, pointing to the door.

Derek nodded, grabbing his own shirt from where it had been tossed behind the couch. He pulled it on after retrieving it, going to check on the pasta from where the water was boiling over a little.

Dinner went by easily, the food good and the company favorable. Neither of them realized that it was almost three am before Paige’s phone went off, a text from Lydia asking where she was. Paige chuckled, leaning back on the couch and looking up at Derek as he muted the television. “I’ve caused Lydia to worry about me. Lydia doesn’t worry.”

“Why would she be worried?” he asked, before he caught a glimpse of the time. “Holy shit, is it really three am?”

“I think it is.” She glanced down at the clock on her phone before setting it back down on the coffee table. “I should go … unless … you wouldn’t mind me staying here?” As much as she didn’t relish the idea of going back to campus in the early hours of the morning while in January, she mostly didn’t want to leave Derek. She wanted to get in all the time with him she could, she didn’t want to go back to some stupid dorm that she shared with a redhead that would be up in a few hours to call her boyfriend in California before he left for work.

“Of course you can stay here.” He didn’t want her to leave anymore than she wanted to leave. “I have some clothes you can change into,” he said, turning the TV off and leading her into his room, up the wrought iron spiral staircase tucked into the corner of his spacious apartment. Once they were in his rather plain room, he dug out a pair of sweatpants that had shrunk in the wash a few months back and an old henley he had grown out of. “Here.” He went to get changed himself, not looking as he did, even though she really did want to look.

He got her out a spare phone charger and plugged his own phone in before he set an alarm and crawled into bed, the queen sized mattress something he had only ever slept on the left side of, though he would admit, he didn’t mind the feeling of someone else there with him. It was a nice change, one that would take some getting used to, but he was more than open to the change.

* * *

Friday night was filled with a lot of _is this alrights_ and _you’re still good, right?_ They were both okay with the situation, whatever was happening, soft touches down backs or lips on skin. Neither of them wanted to stop. And they didn’t. Not the feather light brushes or the constant fighting to be on top.

They even managed to go for a few rounds, things slow and sensual and romantic until Derek left a hickey on her hipbone and from that moment on, they were wrestling on the bed and making the box springs creak uncertainly.

“I love you,” Paige whispered after they were both too tired to do anything else but lie down in bed talking. “I know it’s barely been a week but … I’ve been imagining you since I was four and …. you’re better than anything I could have ever come up with.” Her thumb, moving across his pec, slowed to a stop and she looked up at him, lips bruised and skin red, even in the dim glow from the moon shining through the window. “I’m so glad I got you.” She couldn’t, and didn’t want to, imagine her soul mate being anyone else.

Derek kissed her forehead, then her eyelids and her lips. “I love you too, Paige … so much.”

* * *

On March 19th, Paige was rushing and she really regretted telling Jordan, Lydia’s boyfriend, that she would pick him up for two reasons: One, she had only really met him when he and Lydia Skyped and they had barely spoken seven words to each other. Two, she didn’t have a car. That’s where Derek came in. “Derek, come on, his flight lands in fifteen minutes!” She was bouncing on her toes impatiently, one of her habits when she was getting nervous or excited or just had too much energy to sit still.

This was why she didn’t drink coffee.

“And it’s a Thursday morning, all the students are gone, I don’t know why Lydia didn’t go home for spring break.” Even Paige went home for spring break, but for her, spring break was just a train ride away, whereas, for Lydia, hers was on the opposite side of the country.

“Because there’s a new exhibit opening at the MET next week,” Paige said with a dismissive wave of her hand. She and Jordan had been planning this for two weeks, flying Lydia’s boyfriend in over spring break, especially since she said she would be staying in New York for her birthday. “Can we go? Please.” She may have been staying at his apartment on the weekends but that didn’t mean she was okay with how long it took him to get ready. She took twenty minutes, from start to finish, shower included, to get ready.

It took Derek twenty minutes to even make it out of bed in the morning. And it was mildly infuriating, but she would never admit that. To his face, at the very least.

Derek sighed when he heard another groan from the kitchen downstairs, where Paige had begun busying herself by washing the dishes neither of them had been assed to do the night before. He laughed a little as he went downstairs. “Jesus Christ, will you calm down? We’ll be there before he gets off the plane. I promise. Now let’s go.”

Paige shook her head. “Nope, you made me wait, so I started something else so just wait until I finish these.” He really needed a dishwasher.

It was another eight minutes before she finished and as they went out to Derek’s car, parked in the garage the apartment complex offered to their residents, and started for JFK, Paige’s foot tapping the floor the entire way there.

Jordan was already in the terminal when they got there.

“I told you we would be late,” Paige hummed towards Derek as she squeezed his hand.

Derek rolled his eyes. “No one said you had to wash the dishes,” he shot back as he picked up Jordan’s carry on and slung it over his shoulder, leading him out to his car.

Every couple had their fights. Theirs was worth it to see the look on Lydia’s face when she went to call him that morning and he answered the phone while stepping into their dorm.

* * *

"Am I going to be interrogated?” Derek asked on the Friday before Paige’s birthday, getting settled in his seat right as the train started moving south, down towards New Jersey. They were going home for the weekend, for Paige’s twentieth birthday and Derek got the pleasure of meeting her mom for the first time.

Paige shrugged. “Probably,” she replied simply, leaning back in her seat as the train moved forward. She had issues going backwards on moving things since she was a kid. They found that out the first time she was on Expedition Everest at Disney World and got sick after the ride stopped. She was an adventurous kid, wanting to do everything she was able to but from that moment on, her range of rides was limited to ones that went forward. Hell, she even gold a little nauseous going backwards on the monorail used for transportation down in Florida.

He dropped his head against the seat rest. “If things get too bad, are you going to save me?”

“If things get too bad, Derek, I’m going to record it to play for future generations.”

God, Derek loved this girl.

“I would expect nothing less.”

The train ride went quickly, with Paige nearly asleep on Derek’s shoulder, given that she hadn’t slept well at all the past few nights, and when they got to their stop at the station at Perth Amboy, he shook her awake carefully.

“Come on, Paige, we’re here,” he said, grabbing their bag, all of their clothes for the weekend fitting into one thing, even if Paige still had clothes at her mom’s house. They weren’t clothes she necessarily liked anymore. Or at all.

Waiting under an awning on a bench was a Taiwanese woman who stood when she saw them. Paige squeezed Derek’s hand, shaking off the sleep and running towards her. “Mom!” Derek watched as they hugged like they hadn’t seen each other in decades.

Eventually they stepped back and Paige motioned Derek over, which is when Derek finally broke the respectful distance he was maintaining for their reunion. “Mom, this is Derek, my um … my soul mate. Derek, this is my mom, Yen Ri.”

“Just call me Jocelyn,” Mrs. Krasikeva said, shaking Derek’s hand.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Derek responded.

Paige was hesitant to bring it up, but after a moment, she did, stepping closer to Derek and in front of him as she said, “He’s also my anthropology professor.”

Jocelyn just shrugged, leading them over to the car and opening the trunk for Derek to put the bag down. “When I met your mother, she was a lost tourist unable to read a map properly or ask where the nearest bathroom was. You can’t help your soul mate, Paigey,” she hummed.

Paige shared a look with Derek and got into the back seat with him. That had gone over better than either of them had expected.

* * *

The weekend was not going nearly as tragically as Derek had expected, though in all fairness, the level of tragic he was preparing himself for was equal to that of the sinking of the Titanic. So probably, everything would work out better than what he had been bracing himself for.

The pool was open, it was a warm, April weekend, Paige’s younger cousins were running around the backyard and  chasing each other into the pool, the older ones were stealing beers when no one was looking and there was food. A lot of food.

Derek hadn’t been expecting Paige’s family to be a small army, nor was he expecting more than enough food for said small army to have four helpings and still have food left over. It was a touch overwhelming.

“Hey,” Paige chirped as she sat down on the bottom of the chaise lounge he had claimed, avoiding most of her family, except for the little ones who were intrigued by Paigey’s boyfriend. She rested a hand on his leg, taking a sip of the soda that was sending rivulets of condensation down her arms and legs. “Why do you look like this is the first time you’ve ever seen the sun?” When Derek only chuckled, she set the can down on the grass carefully, moving closer to Derek and turning to face him on the chaise. “Okay, seriously, what’s wrong?”

Derek shrugged, scooting back and letting on leg hang off the side as Paige crossed her legs. “Nothing’s wrong,” he promised. “I’m just … your family is big and loud and to be honest, mildly intimidating.”

Paige giggled. “Really? That’s what it is. They’re welcoming, I promise.” She finished her soda in a few gulps before replacing it in the glass and standing up. She wiggled her fingers, extending her hand to him. “Come on,” she said, stepping out of her shorts and leaving them on the chaise. After a moment, Derek took her hand and stood, following her to the pool. She let go of his hand. “Okay, jump in on three. 1 … 2 … 3!”

Derek jumped in, landing with a splash as his body, curled up in a ball, hit the water. When he resurfaced, wiping wet hair from his eyes and turning. When he saw Paige still standing along the pool, he shook his head. “Seriously? You, pool, now.”

Paige did, but she didn’t jump in. She got in slowly, lowering herself to the pool until she was sitting on the edge and pushed herself in the rest of the way. She smiled, floating in the deep end and looking up at Derek. “Hi.”

He set his hands on her hips, rubbing his finger over the music note tattoo that she had gotten a few months prior. “Hi,” he murmured, kissing her lightly. “My present for you is up on your room. I think it’s better off given to you in private.”

“Oh?” Paige echoed, looking up at him as she started moving backwards. “Well now I’m curious.”

Derek just smirked. “Guess you’ll have to wait and find out.”

“No hint?”

He shook his head, blocking his face from the splash of water that Paige sent at him. When he opened his eyes, she had her tongue stuck out at him.

* * *

Later that night, they were lying in Paige’s bed, the door open just a bit, even though Derek would never consider doing anything under her mom’s roof. Her family had gone home a few hours before and Derek took the time to tap the box nervously against his leg. Paige had just finished tuning her back up cello, the one she left at home for breaks and so she didn’t have to haul her primary one back and forth. She changed into a pair of pajama shorts and one of Derek’s tee shirts she had stolen before she tumbled into bed.

Derek laid down when she did, turning onto his side to face her as she got settled, fixing the blanket over them. “You want your present now or later?”

Paige would be lying if she said it wasn’t what she had been thinking about since he mentioned it to her, playing with hundreds of different ideas of what it could be. “Now, please. Not knowing is driving me crazy.” She liked to know everything and have it within her control.

Derek chuckled, moving her hair from her face and tucking it behind her ear. “Makes me think I should make you wait a little longer.”

“Derek,” she whined, pouting at her boyfriend.

He relented. “Alright, alright.” He grabbed the ring box from the bed, where it was tucked against his knee under the covers as Paige turned the nightstand light on. She raised her eyebrows at the box. “Okay, let me preface this by saying that this isn’t what you think it is.” He handed it to her at that, watching with a soft smile as she opened the box and saw the rose colored gold ring sitting, nestled among the black velvet of the ring box. The ring was shaped like a bow at the time, with a diamond sitting in the center. “It’s a promise ring, before you start getting panicky or over excited.” He hoped the sizing was right, he had gotten Lydia to find out her ring size in secret, but he tended to be overly worried about everything. He slid it on her finger. “Because I promise to love you until my dying breath.”

* * *

When they went back to the school, things were better than ever. Except for Lydia and her constant need to hear about what Derek was like in bed. Paige had gotten used to tuning her out, to be honest. She stayed after class for about fifteen minutes, every time, falling into the routine of talking just for a few moments, stealing a quick kiss or two or six before she was out the door, running to make it to her cello lesson on time.

It was a nice routine they had, spending nights together. She had half her clothes at Derek’s apartment, he knew the hours she would be in her dorm, whereas, he used to stop by only to find out from Lydia that she was at a class, or a lesson or that she went out with that one girl from her Psych class, Malia, for coffee, because they actually got along very well, as far as things went. They worked out well together, most soul mates do. They were good together. The barista at the Starbucks on campus knew that when Derek stopped by at six am, he was picking up coffee for Paige, since she hated mornings without them. Her cello instructor knew that when she was late it was because she couldn’t tear herself away from him.

Lydia knew that when she got that far off look in her eyes, she was thinking about his fingers on her skin, his lips on hers. Laura knew that half smirk he got on his lips meant that he was replaying their last kiss over and over in his head.

Derek Hale was totally and completely fucking in love with this girl. And he knew, by the way his heart squeezed when she looked at him, and the jolts that made the butterflies in his stomach awaken from their slumber and start beating their wings hard enough to start a tornado.

* * *

When he woke up on Saturday morning, rain beating against the window, he stretched out with a lazy yawn, rolling over to find the Paige’s side of the bed empty. He sat up, blinking a few times before he noticed that his vision was no longer in color.

“No. No, no, no.” He grabbed his phone and pulled up her number, calling her phone and glaring at the screen when she didn’t pick up.

He got dressed quickly, running downstairs, led by the pull on his stomach to a cordoned off area a few blocks away from the campus. She had to be okay, this had to be a nightmare or something. She wasn’t dead.

The police sirens were wailing and their flashing lights, normally a vibrant and slightly blinding blue and red, were back to dull shades of gray. He felt like he was going to be sick. He ducked under the caution tape, not letting himself be pushed back. “No! No, I’m her soul mate. I’m her soul mate.” He got closer, looking at the white sheet covering the gurney and moving it back. “ _Paige_.”

Calling Lydia to let her know, then calling Laura went by in a blur. He didn’t realize that her mother was sitting down on the bench in the hospital hallway for ten minutes, until the doctor came out with the items Paige had on her when she died. He explained that she had been hit by a car, died instantly. They said that the guy in the car died too. Derek felt a little better at that. He wasn’t the only one that lost someone today.

He found comfort in the fact that she didn’t feel any pain. She didn’t deserve pain.

Her mother took what she had on her, except for the ring. “She should be buried with it.”

“No!” Derek said, finally snapping back into his head. “No. Please. I want it.” He needed to have it. It was the only thing he would get to keep of hers.

After a moment, her mother nodded and let him take it. He tucked it in his pocket for later. He was never going to go anywhere without this.

 

* * *

Her mother came by, with the help of Paige’s aunt, to pack up her dorm, bringing her stuff back home. Paige was to be buried next to her mom. Derek was going to speak at the funeral. So was Lydia and Malia and hell, even Jordan, because she had such an astonishing lack of friends for someone as beautiful inside and out.

He wasn’t able to keep it together. The morning glories that were normally a light shade of blue were now gray. She always said she hated roses. Called them overrated. Morning glories were her favorite.

* * *

By the time the semester had ended, he and Lydia still spoke, occasionally. Mostly just a few words here and there. It hurt to bring up the days that had passed.

He still taught at school, seeing a girl sit in Paige’s seat, and he didn’t have it in him to give his usual first day of class speech. He just dove right into the lesson, the ring hanging off a chain around his neck.

“Professor Hale?” someone asked from the back of the room, a girl named Allison, that almost reminded him of Paige, in a way. But that was nothing unusual. He saw Paige in every girl he came across. Swore he heard her laugh in the sound of the taxis passing by him as he walked to the Starbucks that was off campus. He could remember the color of her cheeks as she blushed, playing back the memories of their nights together in his head when he needed to smile. “What’s that ring around your neck?”

Oh well. Lessons could wait. He leaned back against his desk and toyed with the ring, as if he had forgotten it was there. “I’m gonna tell you guys a story. Listen closely, because I’m only going to tell it once.” If he didn’t have his class’ attention before, he did now. They were staring at him, enraptured, waiting for him to go on. “This is a story about a girl named Paige. She was twenty …”

 


End file.
